County outline
Where Crow Wing County is located
Area breakdown
Land accounts for 86.3% of Crow Wing County’s measured area and water for 13.7%. Its combined area converts to 2,995.7 square kilometers or approximately 740,262 acres.
Green: land · blue: water
| Measurement | Square miles | Square kilometers | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|
| Land | 998.463 | 2,586.007 | 639,016.3 |
| Water | 158.197 | 409.728 | 101,246.1 |
| Total | 1,156.66 | 2,995.736 | 740,262.4 |
How Crow Wing County compares
By original Census land area, Crow Wing County ranks #21 of 87 in Minnesota and #683 of 3,222 nationally. National rankings include the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
Its land area is 1.48 times the Minnesota county-equivalent median of 674.6 square miles. It accounts for 1.3% of the combined county land area in the state.
See the complete Minnesota ranking · What counts as a county equivalent?
Population and density of Crow Wing County
The Census Bureau estimates that 69,132 people lived in Crow Wing County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #810 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #15 of 87 in Minnesota. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 66,121, the population has grown by 3,011 (+4.6%), compared with +2.2% for Minnesota as a whole.
With 998.5 square miles of land, that is 69 people per square mile (27 per km²), placing Crow Wing County #1,268 nationally for density and #21 in Minnesota. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Minnesota median is 27. Put another way, there are about 9.2 acres of land per resident.
| July 1 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Estimate | 66,284 | 67,380 | 67,877 | 68,339 | 68,667 | 69,132 |
| Change | — | +1,096 | +497 | +462 | +328 | +465 |
U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 population estimates. Estimates are revised each year and are not decennial census counts. Density divides the whole population by the whole county’s land area, so it describes an average, not how settlement is distributed within the county. Population sources and methods.
Cities and towns in Crow Wing County
Crow Wing County is divided into 48 municipalities and townships. In Minnesota, county subdivisions are local governments, and together they cover all of the county’s land and residents.
The most populous is Brainerd city, with 14,428 residents (20.9% of the county). The largest by land is Daggett Brook township, at 36.3 mi², or 3.6% of the county’s land. Among those with at least 1,000 residents in 2020, Nisswa city grew fastest since then (+12.7%).
| County subdivision | Population 2025 | Since 2020 | Land mi² | Share of county land |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brainerd cityCounty seat | 14,428 | +0.4% | 12.1 | 1.2% |
| Baxter city | 9,217 | +6.7% | 18.9 | 1.9% |
| First Assessment UT | 6,052 | +6.6% | 31.4 | 3.1% |
| Breezy Point city | 2,771 | +7.7% | 11.7 | 1.2% |
| Pequot Lakes city | 2,483 | +3.8% | 16.4 | 1.6% |
| Crosslake city | 2,412 | +1.2% | 25.8 | 2.6% |
| Crosby city | 2,330 | −1.2% | 2.955 | 0.3% |
| Lake Edward township | 2,234 | +6.5% | 25.4 | 2.5% |
| Nisswa city | 2,217 | +12.7% | 10.8 | 1.1% |
| Crow Wing township | 2,194 | +2.3% | 29.4 | 2.9% |
| Oak Lawn township | 1,886 | +6.9% | 34.5 | 3.5% |
| Deerwood township | 1,392 | +6.6% | 28.7 | 2.9% |
| Ideal township | 1,291 | +6.4% | 20.7 | 2.1% |
| Irondale township | 1,272 | +0.4% | 27.4 | 2.7% |
| Long Lake township | 1,185 | +6.3% | 33.9 | 3.4% |
Show the other 33 subdivisions
| Name | Population 2025 | Since 2020 | Land mi² |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Ripley township | 1,081 | +6.7% | 22.1 |
| Center township | 1,053 | +6.9% | 17.8 |
| Bay Lake township | 984 | +6.4% | 27.3 |
| Nokay Lake township | 944 | +6.5% | 33.2 |
| Garrison township | 898 | +7.4% | 29.5 |
| Emily city | 870 | +3% | 30 |
| Mission township | 856 | +6.6% | 29.6 |
| Maple Grove township | 777 | +6.4% | 34.5 |
| St. Mathias township | 646 | +6.4% | 35.4 |
| Roosevelt township | 620 | +6.5% | 31.2 |
| Deerwood city | 572 | +7.9% | 1.489 |
| Daggett Brook township | 568 | +6.6% | 36.3 |
| Ironton city | 560 | −2.3% | 1.448 |
| Pelican township | 533 | +6.4% | 8.515 |
| Jenkins city | 515 | +6.4% | 4.472 |
| Fifty Lakes city | 462 | +3.6% | 29.3 |
| Platte Lake township | 449 | +6.7% | 35.7 |
| Jenkins township | 420 | +6.6% | 11.7 |
| Wolford township | 375 | +6.8% | 14.6 |
| Rabbit Lake township | 347 | +6.4% | 22.3 |
| Fairfield township | 344 | +6.5% | 33.7 |
| Cuyuna city | 340 | +14.9% | 3.234 |
| Perry Lake township | 302 | +6.7% | 30.9 |
| Garrison city | 201 | +4.7% | 1.047 |
| Timothy township | 184 | +6.4% | 34.3 |
| Ross Lake township | 176 | +6.7% | 33.4 |
| Second Assessment UT | 130 | +8.3% | 16.8 |
| Trommald city | 113 | +14.1% | 3.69 |
| Riverton city | 111 | −1.8% | 0.81 |
| Gail Lake township | 100 | +6.4% | 16.8 |
| Little Pine township | 90 | +7.1% | 34.5 |
| Fort Ripley city | 83 | −1.2% | 1.29 |
| Manhattan Beach city | 64 | +6.7% | 1.531 |
Population: U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2025 subcounty estimates, counting only the part of each subdivision inside Crow Wing County. Land: 2026 Census Gazetteer. How communities are listed.
Metropolitan area
Crow Wing County is a central county of the Brainerd, MN Micropolitan Statistical Area. Its 2 county equivalents have 100,562 residents on 3,019.9 square miles of land; Crow Wing County accounts for 33.1% of the land and 68.7% of the residents. By combined land it ranks #51 of 542 micropolitan areas, and #35 by population.
| County equivalent | Population 2025 | Land mi² |
|---|---|---|
| Crow Wing County | 69,132 | 998.5 |
| Cass County | 31,430 | 2,021.5 |
ZIP codes
18 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Crow Wing County; 12 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.
563385636456401564255643156435564415644256444564475644856449564505645556465564685647256474
ZIP Code Tabulation Areas are the Census Bureau’s approximations of USPS ZIP Code service areas, from the 2020 Census relationship files. Lighter codes have less than half of their land in this county. Post-office-box and single-address ZIP Codes have no tabulation area.
Counties bordering Crow Wing County
Crow Wing County shares a land border with 4 county equivalents. It has more land than 1 of them. The largest neighbor is Cass County (2,021.5 mi²) and the smallest is Mille Lacs County (572.3 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Crow Wing County forms a block of 6,538.6 mi² of land, of which it holds 15.3%.
| Bordering county equivalent | Land mi² | Size vs. Crow Wing | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cass County | 2,021.5 | 2× larger | Compare |
| Aitkin County | 1,821.3 | 1.8× larger | Compare |
| Morrison County | 1,125.1 | 1.1× larger | Compare |
| Mille Lacs County | 572.3 | 1.7× smaller | Compare |
How big is Crow Wing County compared with U.S. states?
Crow Wing County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 1 times as much. Minnesota’s county land could hold about 80 areas the size of Crow Wing County.
Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 31.6 miles (50.9 km) on each side. Real county shapes are rarely square, so this is a scale reference rather than a width or driving distance.
State figures are the sums of each state’s county-equivalent land measurements in the same Census release, so states and counties are compared on the same basis. Published state totals can differ slightly because of rounding. Compare all states · Counties bigger than entire states.
What stands out about Crow Wing County?
Crow Wing County has more land than 2,539 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.
A median is the middle county-equivalent measurement, not the average of the largest and smallest. All three bars use the same linear scale. Very small areas may appear as a thin sliver; the labels retain their values.
Does including water change its rank?
Using land plus water places Crow Wing County at #616 nationally by total area, 67 places closer to the top than its land rank. The water assigned to this geography moves it ahead of some county equivalents with more land.
Its water share is 13.7%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 12.5 percentage points higher. This describes the statistical geography’s land/water mix, not flood exposure or developable land.
Closest positions in the national land ranking
These entries sit immediately beside Crow Wing County in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.
| Land rank | County equivalent | Land mi² | Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|
| #682 | Clearwater County, Minnesota | 999 | Compare |
| #683 | Crow Wing County, Minnesota | 998.5 | This county |
| #684 | Zapata County, Texas | 998.4 | Compare |
Calculated from the same Census release as the area table. Total-area order uses original ALAND + AWATER; water shares and chart labels use published square miles. Calculation details.
Representative coordinates
The Census internal point is 46.491653, -94.070718. It represents a location inside the geography; it is not necessarily the centroid or the address of a courthouse.
Source and precision
U.S. Census Bureau, 2026 Gazetteer Files, Counties. Original ALAND: 2,586,007,981 m²; AWATER: 409,727,702 m². Rankings use ALAND; exact ties use ascending GEOID. Tables preserve Census-published square miles to three decimals, with conversions based on those values.
Common questions
How big is Crow Wing County?
Crow Wing County, Minnesota has 998.5 square miles (2,586 km²) of land and 158.2 square miles of water, for a total area of 1,156.7 square miles. It ranks #683 of 3,222 U.S. county equivalents by land area.
Is Crow Wing County the largest county in Minnesota?
No. Crow Wing County ranks #21 of 87 in Minnesota by land area. The largest is St. Louis County, with 6,248.1 square miles of land.
What counties border Crow Wing County?
Crow Wing County shares a land border with Cass County, Aitkin County, Morrison County, and Mille Lacs County.
What is the population of Crow Wing County?
The Census Bureau estimates Crow Wing County had 69,132 residents on July 1, 2025, ranking #810 of 3,222 county equivalents. That is 69 people per square mile of land.
What is the county seat of Crow Wing County?
The county seat of Crow Wing County is Brainerd.
What cities and towns are in Crow Wing County?
Crow Wing County has 48 county subdivisions (cities, towns and townships). The most populous five are Brainerd city, Baxter city, First Assessment UT, Breezy Point city, and Pequot Lakes city.
Is Crow Wing County part of a metropolitan area?
Yes. It is a central county of the Brainerd, MN Micropolitan Statistical Area, which has 2 county equivalents and 100,562 residents.
How many ZIP codes are in Crow Wing County?
18 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Crow Wing County, and 12 of them have most of their land inside the county. Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas approximate USPS ZIP Code areas.
How does Crow Wing County compare with U.S. states?
It has less land than every state. Rhode Island, the smallest, has 1 times as much land.
How many acres of land are in Crow Wing County?
The land measurement converts to approximately 639,016 acres. Including water, total area is approximately 740,262 acres. One square mile equals 640 acres.
Why might another source show a different area?
Check whether it reports land or total area, its Census vintage, and its rounding. Our guide explains how to reconcile county area figures.
Can this establish a property boundary?
No. Statistical measurements and generalized maps do not establish property lines. Consult the relevant local surveying or land-records authority.